Hunter and I collect (real) wine corks in a big, glass das boot and then when it’s full we come up with things to do with them.  We’ve made coasters (aka corksters), magnets and filled a lantern in the past, so when the boot was almost full I looked for a new idea of what to do with them (and of course it had to be holiday themed).  Alas…

Wine Cork Christmas Tree

What you’ll need:

• A lot of corks.  I probably used 100+ and all the finished bottles of wine or champagne were consumed by willing friends / family.
• Hot glue gun

Note: Unless you have a huge supply of wine corks handy, this project will take some time.  Once I started building the tree, it probably took me about a month to (drink more wine) complete the tree.  I hear you can buy corks at Michael’s, but what’s the fun in that?

I started by making a circle of corks to be the base.  I used the same kind of wine corks (thanks Trader Joe’s) so I knew it would be as symmetric as possible.

I filled in the inside of the base with another row of corks to make it sturdier and balanced, then I started to glue the corks upward.  I didn’t want the tree to be all straight and even (plus I’d probably mess that up) so I glued the corks in more of a random fashion.

Slowly, but surely the tree was getting taller…

Finally, I got to the top of the tree and filled in a few other spots.  I put it in the middle of a silver charger (from Michael’s, $1.50), added some shells Rollene and Tish gave me and glittery balls (?), and my centerpiece was done!

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to drinking lots of wine so I could finish the tree!  It was hard work, but I knew my friends, family, and 5 Loaves guests would be up to the challenge..

Update : I’ve brought this tree out to be on our table every year since!  This past year I added fresh rosemary around the bottom instead of shells & glittery balls and love the natural look (and fragrance)!